Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sue Scheff: Ask a Librarian - FREE Virtual Reference Service

Ask a Librarian provides Florida residents with live virtual reference services via local library customized web sites from 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday (EST), and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday (EST).

Getting back into the swing of homework and studies can sometimes be difficult.  Florida has created a live virtual reference services with many libraries including St. John's County, Broward and Palm Beach.

Take time before school opens to introduce your kids to Ask a Librarian.  It is a fantastic point of reference for many projects, homework and essays.
Ask a Librarian offers real people, real help, real fast!

What is  Ask a Librarian:

Ask a Librarian is a free online service that allows Floridians to chat live with a librarian for immediate assistance. A trained information professional can guide you to the answers you need in minutes rather than your wasting hours navigating hundreds of unhelpful and irrelevant web sites. More than 100 libraries statewide collaborate to provide this service to their patrons and the patrons of other participating libraries.

What is Ask a Librarian Mobile?
Ask a Librarian’s email service is optimized for your handheld device. Visit our mobile interface at www.askalibrarian.mobi, then choose your local library from the list. E-mail your question anytime, and a librarian from your library will answer you via e-mail.

How does Ask a Librarian work?
When you click on the chat button, your question enters a queue for the on-duty librarians. Librarians answer questions in the order they receive them. Typically, depending on the expected traffic, between two and six librarians staff the Ask a Librarian desk during the hours we are available for live chat. When the librarian accepts your question, you are able to chat one-on-one with that librarian while he or she helps you find what you need by guiding you through the myriad of resources available. The librarian might screen-share these resources with you. Screen-sharing allows the librarian to co-navigate resources on your PC.  Read more and watch demo.

Check to see if your library is listed.  Click here.

Be an educated and prepared parent, your teens will have a better school year!

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